Premium ArticleGreek Woes Rattle Confidence

Equity indexes crept higher all week as encouraging economic data releases on the home front kept the bull train rolling. However, bearish pressures permeated the market on Friday as Greek debt woes struck again, erasing all of the gains from earlier in the week for most securities. The lack of resolution in the financially fragile currency bloc overseas continues to be a major drag on investors’ confidence and will likely persist until a concrete agreement has been struck. With regards to our Monday edition of ETF Insider, it seems that Greek woes have undoubtedly rained on the bull’s parade.

Actionable ETF Trade Ideas

Our picks from Monday’s Insider posted a mixed performance this past week, although our two profitable trades more than made up for the losing recommendation. Below, we highlight how our trade ideas fared during the week [sign up for a free trial of ETFdb Pro to get actionable ETF ideas every Monday, as well as access to more than 40 all-ETF model portfolios].

Trade #1 Long FCG: Up 2.3%

This pick got off to a great start as bullish euphoria spread quickly on Monday morning; FCG charged higher and settled above $18 a share, paving the way for our optimistic expectations. This ETF extended gains into Tuesday all the way through Thursday, climbing alongside broad equity indexes. Selling pressures struck quick and hard on Friday however, erasing much of the week’s gains for this fund. Nonetheless, our technical analysis rewarded us with a modest 2.3% gain on the week.

Trade #2 Long TLT: Down 1.4%

This was our fundamentally defensive position for the week and TLT got off to a surprisingly strong start on Monday, soaring as high as $117.80 a share. Better-than-expected economic data on the home front kept the lid on this recommendation and TLT drifted back down to the $116 level as equity markets rallied on Tuesday and Wednesday. This recommendation turned sour on Thursday when TLT dipped below our outlined stop-loss at $115 a share, leaving us with a minimal 1.4% loss on the week.

Trade #3 Short IJR: Up 1.6%

This speculative short position rewarded us with a respectable 1.6% gain on the week as our technical analysis helped us to identify the slowing bullish momentum in shares of IJR. This ETF drifted lower right from the opening bell on Monday morning, although we did get a bit worried on Wednesday when IJR rose as high as $76.57 a share. Resurfacing Greek debt drama on Friday helped out our bearish suspicions and IJR gapped lower at the open, singing all the way down to $74.59 a share.

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Retirement ETFdb Portfolios

Investors digested more good news on the home front; job openings and weekly unemployment filings both came in better-than-expected, helping to restore confidence in the domestic labor market recovery. Likewise, our retirement portfolios with heavier allocations to equities were able to profit from the improving sentiment on Wall Street. Our Aggressive portfolio finished at the top of the list once again while our Low Volatility portfolio came in last place.

Our Euro Free Europe portfolio climbed to the top of the list this week thanks to its strategy, which maintains tangential exposure to the Euro zone while avoiding direct exposure to euro-denominated assets. Investors increased their appetite for risk yet again as the economic landscape continues to slowly improve and present encouraging prospects. All of our regional portfolios finished the week in green territory.

Our High Tech portfolio charged ahead this week as the technology sector was abundant with gains; Apple was a noteworthy stock on the week as this tech-giant soared higher every single day, hitting an all-time high at $497 a share on Friday. Euro zone drama pushed the U.S. dollar higher, which in turn pressured gold prices lower. Likewise, our gold-centric GLD-Free Gold Bug portfolio turned in the worst performance for the week [see All Portfolio Returns].

New ETF Highlights

The exchange-traded universe continues to evolve as several issuers filed plans with the SEC for new products and a handful of new fund hit the street this past week. Check out our ETF Launch Center for complete updates on all new ETFs.

ETF Launches

Global X launched their new Permanent ETF, PERM, which tracks the performance of four asset class categories that are designed to perform differently across different economic environments. The four asset classes are stocks, U.S. Treasury Bonds (Long-Term), U.S. Treasury Bonds (Short-Term), and gold and silver.

VelocityShares introduced their new leveraged 2x Long Copper ETN, LCPR, which is composed entirely of copper futures contracts and is derived by reference to the price levels of the futures contracts on a single commodity as well as the discount or premium obtained by “rolling” hypothetical positions in such contracts forward as they approach delivery.

VelocityShares introduced their new leveraged 3x Long Natural Gas ETN, UGAZ, which is composed entirely of natural gas futures contracts and is derived by reference to the price levels of the futures contracts on a single commodity as well as the discount or premium obtained by “rolling” hypothetical positions in such contracts forward as they approach delivery.

VelocityShares launched their new leveraged 3x Long Crude ETN, UWTI, which is composed entirely of WTI crude oil futures contracts and is derived by reference to the price levels of the futures contracts on a single commodity as well as the discount or premium obtained by “rolling” hypothetical positions in such contracts forward as they approach delivery.

VelocityShares launched their new leveraged 3x Long Brent Crude ETN, UOIL, which is composed entirely of Brent crude oil futures contracts and is derived by reference to the price levels of the futures contracts on a single commodity as well as the discount or premium obtained by “rolling” hypothetical positions in such contracts forward as they approach delivery.

iShares debuted their new MSCI India Small Cap Index Fund, SMIN,which is designed to measure the performance of equity securities of small capitalization companies whose market capitalization represents the bottom 14% of companies in the Indian securities market.

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